Well, the seasons they are a changing. Finally, we've gotten a breath of fresh cool air here in Southern Florida and can I tell how wonderful that feels? This is my favorite time of year here. Halloween and cooler temps? Can I just say I'm in heaven:)
Rene Stephens, part of the Black Rose editing team at
The Wild Rose Press and our scheduled guest today, will not be able to make it. But she will drop in another day soon. That said, please keep an eye out for her at a later date. She sends her apologies.
Now to explore an interesting topic
Faith V. Smith brought up yesterday. Why do we write and how did we suddenly take the craft seriously? I don't know about you but Faith got me thinking and interestingly enough, my beginnings are not all that different that Faith's.
I began writing at a very early age, 10 or 11 if I had to give you an age. Whether it were adolescent thoughts jotted down at will, diaries, attempts at writing my own songs, jingles, poems--well you get the picture.
As a child, I had a very vivid imagination and a whole lot of energy. I kept myself entertained for hours, creating and acting out--believe it or not--scenes from
Dark Shadows(I would drape sheer curtains all over my room as cobwebs, LOL and btw, I was always Angelique), lipsinking to favorite songs using my brush as the mic and crooning into my bureau mirror, cording off rooms in the backyard with clothes line poles--remember those? You name it. And writing. My first publication was a poem in grammar school that was placed in my sixth grade yearbook. I'd begun writing a romance novel in a spiral notebook at the age of 12 complete with a hand-drawn cover, a couple arm in arm walking away from the camera, so-to-speak. I had a decent gift for drawing, as well(don't know whatever happened to that, LOL).
I took creative writing in junior high along with journalism and wrote more completely loving it. Fiction has always been my forte. The journalism was interesting but boring to me. Then, of course, life happened. I was a teenaged girl doing girl things. The most important, of which, was chasing boys! That and primping took up all my time:) Then disco and clubbing happened along with work and responsibility and marriage. Writing took a back seat in my life for many years, until...
The year 2000. This had to be the worst year of my life. Everyone for the most part was excited about and celebrating the Millenium but I was watching my hero die-my father. He and I were the typical father-daughter relationship. I was Daddy's little girl and he always my tall, dark, handsome hero. Talking about it still brings tears to my eyes. I miss him achingly so to this day. My father survived three major cancer surgeries, irreversible colinectomy to name one before succumbing to an intestinal scarring repair procedure where his intestine and bladder were nicked during the procedure and he became septic. We lost him not soon after.
We were, to say the least, devastated at his loss. He had just turned sixty-five and it was only days after his birthday. But that wasn't enough loss for me apparently. A couple of months later, I found out my beautiful Sheltie, Kazzy, had cancer! I was absolutley crushed. He was only eleven years old and was diagnosed with Lymphosarcoma. Not good. We did all we could for him and lost him in the end anyway.
You can well imagine my state of mind by the end of the year. I started to look for ways to deal with my grief. It was just too overbearing, and I was falling into serious depression.
I'd recently gotten a rebuilt computer from a friend and started to look around the internet for writing classes. I thought maybe I could lose myself in the craft and work through my grief as a means of escape. Good idea, right?
I came across a six week free writing class called F2K sponsored by
Writer's Village University and signed up immediately. Well, as it turned out, I did my class met lots of people, joined the WVU formed a critique group with another member and wrote through and about my grief and best of all got past the fear of sharing my writing. That is a major step for any author. Putting one's heart and soul out there for someone else to critique! I am still a member of Writers' Village University to this day, and I have them to thank. For without them I would have never written my first novel, nor be where I am today with my newest projects,
Curse of the Marhime and my two recent sales,
Eternal Obscession(a Scarlet release) and
The Changeling(A Black release) both in the edit stages at this time.
I am truly thankful I discovered my muse and that it got me through a very difficult time in my life. I never in a million years would have thought that it would have turned out as rewarding as it has for me, but it just goes to show that you never know what is waiting for you around the next bend in life. No matter the reasons you do what you do or the hows of getting there, the point is you did! My advise to anyone is to follow your heart. Do what makes you happy and don't ever give up. The kudos are your own. Never depend on others to push you forward. Only you can move that foot to take the first step to you dreams and goals. So come on, take that baby step and let's get started. You're future is out there for you to grab and run with.
Have a wonderful day and if you would why not share how you obtained your dreams or what you are doing to capture them.
D~
